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Trouble After the Trial
Previous Chapter - Trial After the Tempest The men and women of the Valles Marineris had worked for hours on end to purchase materials and carry over materials to the ship. As they did, more crew members were scrambling throughout the ship, repairing the mast, steam engines, and the hull as well as checking for more damage. One could hear banging of hammers, footsteps all around the shipyard, and the crashing of the waves on the docks as they created this strange symphony which Noreen seemed to be used to hearing. Shogo walked up to the deck and looked at Noreen. "Hey, Noreen!" He shouted before jumping off the deck on onto the ground in front of Noreen. She glanced over at Shogo while fiddling with the floating tablets of light that appeared in front of her. "Yes?" She asked. "There were only minor issues with the steam engines. So I was able to get them up and running again pretty quick." He said with a hint of pride. Noreen smiled. "Good. I'll be sure to archive that." She said as she looked away from Shogo and back to her Archive Magic. "How long until the mast is repaired?" she asked Shogo looked at Noreen and gave a rather pained smile while putting his hand behind his head. "Yeah, umm... about that. We are going to need a full-fledged replacement of the mast. I have already purchased the materials we need to make the mast again, but I am going to have to bring a good portion of the crew to carry the materials over. the wood is high-quality and I got a good price for I, but it is heavier than expected and I actually purchased some extra materials as well." Having a somewhat irritated look on her face, Noreen asked "Why?" With the same pained look on his face, shogo replied, "Because it was such a good price for such high-quality materials! Plus, it's always good to have extra supplies just in case, right?" "Has it occurred to you that we are on a budget, Shogo?" Noreen asked swiftly and sternly. "We already wasted enough time with having to go through the trial, and i personally do not want to se our monetary resources be spent either." Noreen gave a sigh. "Go and bring all the materials. If anything, we can probably use the extras to upgrade our hull or something, but please, watch how you spend our budget money!" Shogo had a look of dissent, like a child who is being scolded. "Alright, I'm sorry. I'll take care next time." Shogo went back on the ship and began to gather together a group of about twenty men and women to accompany him to the shop where he purchased the materials. After the group had made their way to the shop, only about thirteen people where left at the shipyard, not including Noreen. While repairs had gone smoothly for most of the afternoon, the workload quickly began to dry up without the required materials to tackle the harder tasks. With nothing left to do, the remaining crew of the Valles Marineris began to settle in for the night just as the sun began to set behind the buildings. It had been a long day for most of them, having done nothing for the past week but wait for a sentencing, so being able to wander the port on their own time was a blessing. It was already night by the time Shogo and the others got back, but many of the crew had already gone to bed so it was decided that work could be resumed after a good night's rest. Despite the drone of the port's night workers carrying on in the distance, eventually Noreen too fell into her bed and drifted off to sleep. She got a few good hours rest, a godsend after the stressful last few days she'd endured, when she was suddenly shaken awake by a loud bang. The noise startled Noreen as she said. "What the-?" And hopped off her bed, grabbed a lantern, put on her slippers, and ran outside to the docks wearing only her night gown. When she arrived at the entrance of the docks, the first place she looked was the shipyard in which the Valees Marineris was housed. To her shock, she was able to see some light smoke coming from the shipyard. Her eyes widened asshe began to get very concerned. "Oh no!" She thought to herself as she ran towards the shipyard as fast as she could. Arriving at the shipyard, the first thing she looked at was the Valles Marineris, which had a hole in the hull on the side with the same light smoke she saw coming forth. Her face began to show contempt and disgust as she looked around for any clues as to who might have damaged the vessel she and her crew worked so hard to repair. Looking around, she saw some night worker lying on the ground close to the shipyard. Completely ignoring the damage to her vessel, she rushed over to the night workers aid, who had been lying face down on the floor. Turning the worker over, she was met with the morbid gaze of a dead man with half of his head smashed in. The sight of this horrified Noreen as she stepped back from the dead worker's body. She covered her mouth and began to swallow, as if to keep under control the gagging reflexes she had. With her mouth still covered by her hands, she whispered to herself. "Oh my God..." Before making a b-line for lodge in which the rest of her crew was sleeping. She shot through the streets as fast as her legs would carry her, fighting against the burning in her lungs, when she heard a metallic scrapping noise in the distance. She stopped dead, looking in the direction of the noise just in time to see a large mass shift in the darkness. She stood frozen for a moment, trying to comprehend what she just saw, but all was still now that she was looking. Despite her instincts screaming at her to run, Noreen headed after whatever she had saw, convinced it had something to do with the new damage to their ship. After creeping closer, Noreen peaked around the corner to the next street to see a trio of men gathered around a cart next to a collection of large crates. Most of them where already loaded onto a pair of horse drawn carts. The trio looked around nervously, obviously up to no good, when one of the containers seemingly stood up. Standing behind it was a massive creature, easily dwarfing the other men, who roughly swung the container onto the cart with very an intimidating level of ease. it looked somewhat like a large gorilla, but with a wolf's head and pointed horns. "I think that's the last of it." One of the men said. "Or, the last of the good stuff, I suppose." Noreen was in shock. Not only was she witnessing a robbery in progress, this thing with them did not belong in an urban environment; especially considering how easily it had moved those metal shipping containers. In her daze, she had failed to notice the lantern slip from her fingers and the glass shattered the second it hit the ground. Noreen was to late to duck around the corner again, leaving her almost completely unhidden by the time the monster swung his head in her direction. "Hello there..." The beast growled, it's lips parting into a toothy grin. "And what would you be doing out so late?" Noreen bolted in the direction of the entrance of the pier. While she was running, she put two fingers on her forehead to activate her Telepathy Magic. She began to speak, with huffs-and-puffs filling in the spaces between words, "Somebody robbed our boat, and someone is after me!" She said fearfully. ---- The broadcast reached the ears of the whole crew. Shogo woke up to the sound of this broadcast being repeated in his head, albeit very slowly. He also heard the sound of grunting men and women rushing through the hallway outside his hotel room. Hearing that, he got out of his bed and made his ay to the door, dragging his feel along as if they had weights on them. arriving at the door, he opened it to have a flood of light overwhelm his eyes. He reached his right arm to cover his eyes as he could still not see the the droves of men and women running down the hallway. Suddenly, he felt someone pull down on his right arm as if to uncover his eyes. "Shogo! The Captain's in toruble!" The man said with purpose. Shogo looked straight at the man who was talking to him. It was clear that he was a crew member, but it seemed that shogo didn't care as he started letting out incomprehensible groans. He was hunched over and his face looked lifeless as if he was under some kind of dark spell. Impatient, the crew member's face lit up. "SHOGO!" he shouted in Shogo's face. At that moment, Shogo sprung to life. His back straightened up, his eyes widened, and he couldn't help but let out a "WHAT?" like a soldier being called to attention. "I know you have trouble waking up, but this is crazy-important! Noreen is in trouble! You need ''to kick your ass up to high gear!" The crew-member said with haste. Shogo seemed to speak normally now. "Where is she at?" He asked. "She is apparently down at the docks where our ship is stationed. We need to hurry quick!" the Crew-member said. at this point, the crew member ran off to the docks, being one of the last crew-members to do so. The halls were now almost empty; no one was present, save a few crewmates that lagged behind just as shogo did. He didn't even run inside to change his clothes; he just began to run down the hall, to the lobby and out tot he docks with his pajamas and slippers on. Behind him, a female crew mate caught up to him. "Trust me, Shogo, i understand how you feel." She said with a smile. Shogo smiled in response and said with a somewhat cocky tone, "I just better be able to sleep in tomorrow." ---- As her crew rallied to action, Noreen continued to sprint for her life, feeling the footfalls of the monster chasing uncomfortably close behind her. It moved like a gorilla, galloping with it’s from feet and knuckles and crashing through anything in its way. Streetlights, shipping containers, or anything else unfortunate enough to be in its way where brushed aside like twigs. Noreen swung around another corner, taking a quick glance back to see if she’d gained any ground, only to find the beast skid around the corner on all fours only seconds behind her. "Where ya goin'!?" Noreen looked ahead at the path in fornt of her. There was a straight path that led to a sharp right turn. She looked behind her only to see the monster come closer inch-by-inch. The sight of this made Noreen feel a rush of heat and adrenaline throughout her body as she panicked and took the sharp right turn without realizing that a few of the monster's lackeys were right around the corner, ready to trap her. The group of lackeys glared at Noreen with crooked smiles and eyes that might as well have screamed the terrible thoughts that were churning through their minds. At the sight of this, Noreen felt lightheaded, but not enough to pass out. At this point, she felt as if she lost control of her body as it immediately sprung to her left and towards the water. Though Noreen was in a severe state of panic, this fight-or-flight response seemed to smooth out the erratic nature of her movements as she elegantly dove off the pier into the almost-black water. However, just as she jumped off, The mysterious monster reached out in one final attempt to capture her. Noreen was fast enough o avoid the grip of the monster altogether, but not fast since the monster's claw managed to create a logn cut that ran down her calf. Noreen initially took a breath before diving in, but the pain of the cut caused her to abruptly exhale. She now was underwater with no oxygen to sustain her, and she dared not arise to to surface, lest she be seen by the lurching beast that stared intently at the water in which she dove. the pain in her leg, combined with the shock of the ice cold water, made it imposable to hold her breath, and Noreen had to surface after just a moment. Staring down at her from the pear was the beast, hanging over the edge as if contemplating following after her. "Aww... Had enough fun already?" She stared at the monster, glaring with the same bloodthirsty look as his lackeys. She became more lightheaded. THe pain seemed to numb at this point; it could be that Noreen has more adrenaline rishing through her body or that the water was very cold, but nevertheless, she was able to muster up energy to respond to the Monster's snarl. "Be glad that Lars isn't here." She said before taking a breath, flipping her body upside down in the water, and pushing her feet against the bottom of the pier to dive straight down in the water. Meanwhile, the entire crew of the Valles Marineris arrived at the pier. Still not sure of what to expect, the crew ran down the pier and split into groups to search for noreen. Running down the pier, their collective footsteps on the wood created a rhythmic and audible rumble. Around the same time, lights flashed on behind the nearest buildings, causing one of the bandits to check over his shoulder as an alarm began to sound. "Shit, Oran we're running out of time!" He yelled up at the monster. The beast didn't seam to hear him however, as it continued to watch the spot where Noreen had disappeared. After a while, it's toothy grin faded and it shrugged. "Ah well." It's horns retracted, as did it's tail and all it's fur. It began to shrink as well, it's animalistic features becoming more human in but an instant. Just a moment had passed, but a man now stood where the monster once had, bearing the same red eyes and beastly sneer all the same. "Alright, let's go." He spun on his heel, waving for the others to follow, and soon the lot of them disappeared into the night. Noreen swam in the direction of the shore. she peeked her head out of the water swiftly and periodically to catch her breath and check if the monster was anywhere to be seen. The coast seemed clear; Noreen took another dive down to ensure that her advance on the shore would not be noticed by the group of thieves. She slowly crawled up to the nearby sand with gentle waves bobbing the cloth of her dress. She got out of the water, still on all fours,and caught her breath once again. Panting, she said "Good Lord..." One group of crew members on the pier saw her on the beach. At that instant, they shouted to the rest of the crew "Guys, i found her!" Every single group of sailors stopped in their tracks and rushed to Noreen's aid as the first group continued shouting and pointing to Noreen's location. However, SHogo's group, which was at the Valles Marineris shipyard, did not respond as they witnessed the sight of their damaged ship. Shogo's initial grogginess disappeared at that moment as he ran inside the ship, commanding his group to put out the small fires on the ship and inspect the entire ship for damage. While Shogo and his search team were scouring the entire ship, Noreen sat at the beach, holding her calf as the pain began to settle in, replacing the adrenaline-induced energy that initially numbed it. Almost all of the crew members gathered around Noreen with looks of concern on their faces. "Are you okay?" one crew member asked "Ah-" She responded as another surge of pain ran up her leg. She continued to hold her leg with both her hands. "Let us see your leg." A crew member said. Noreen stood silent as she began to twist her body so she can lay on her side, exposing the long, but not-so deep cut that was on her calf. "Ouch, what happened to you?" One of the crew members asked. "I heard this blast coming from he pier, and i went out to investigate. Long-story-short, i was attacked by this giant... gorilla-like monster accompanied by a group of shady-looking people. I tried to get away by jumping into the ocean but he managed to swipe me before i fell in." She said. Suddenly, a distinguishable voice that had had slight traces of anger and bloodlust rose up from the crowd. "A monster?" the voice asked. Noreen looked up to see who spoke. It was Lars, who upon hearing Noreen's words, requipped a peculiar sword that seemed to be covered in rattlesnake scales. "Yeah..." Noreen answered. "I literally thought i was going to die. I don't know where it is now though. It was nowhere to be seen when i surfaced." Just the sight of Noreen injured made Lars very angry, but Lars took a deep breath as to subdue the anger that was welling up inside of him. As he did, the scales that covered his sword, The Heartstoppoing Rattler began to swivel slightly and make quiet rattling noises. THe rattling noised subsided as Lars then said, "Well, I am glad that you were fast and smart enough to make an escape from that monster... and that you only have a scratch on your leg." "We need to bring you to a place where you can be treated. We do not take chances when it comes to this kind of stuff." One crew member piped up. Right after the crew member said that, the crew began to scatter, as if to look around for any signs of hospitals. Just as they began to scatter, Shogo and his team came running back to Noreen on the beach. Slightly out of breath, SHogo said, "Captain-" When Shogo said that, Both Noreen and Lars looked at Shogo and responded with "Yes?" Looking at Lars, SHogo said, "Not you. My captain." "Oh... sorry." Lars responded, looking away in slight embarassment. "Captain, Our ship is damaged. Parts and personal belongings are missing from the ship, and the steam engines have been severed!" SHogo said. Noreen did not say anything; she simply took a breath, and looked downward. She made a face as if she was grieving. She began t shake her head. "Umm... Cap-" SHogo was interrupted by a now saddened and angry Noreen. "Leave me alone." She said. Lars swiftly responded, as if Noreen's words and tone of voice triggered him. "Let's let her compose herself as the crew looks for a place to treat her." He said to Shogo. ---- It had been a typical night for Hanna Andrews. She’d headed straight to her room after escorting Noreen back to her crew and, save for fifteen minutes she’d spent finishing a chapter of a mystery novel she’d been working through, went straight to bed. She’d fallen asleep fairly fast, given the long day she’d had, so it didn’t bother her too much when one of her Rune Knights woke her saying they had a case early the next morning. It took only a moment for her to change into her uniform and head out. She stopped briefly for something to eat on the way, but before long she’d arrived at the port and followed the trail of Rune Knights to the scene. She hadn’t gotten very many details, but judging from the number of people present this was a lot more serious than the usual late night drunken brawl. Shipping containers had been knocked over or where out of place, long gashes had been left in the concrete pier, and the fence around the perimeter had entire sections mangled and ripped away. She began to grumble at her luck; the sun wasn't even up yet, and by the looks of things she wouldn't be getting back to bed any time soon. As she scanned over the scene, Hanna spotted one of her coworkers directing the knights and taking notes. "Hey Florz!" She called, quickly finishing the rest of her breakfast. He looked up for a moment as she approached, still trying to fathom what could have gone on. "The hell happened here?" "From what I could tell, a robbery gone bad." He said, handing her his notebook. "They think Mages where involved, or they wouldn't have called us." He took a moment to look around, noting a metal shipping create with one of its sides torn open. "Looking at all this, I think they're right." Hanna took a moment to look through his notes, but it soon became apparent that he'd only just gotten here himself. "Who was the first CO on scene?" Florz slowly raised his hand. "Do you know what was taken?" "A bunch of containers where ripped into, so we're still trying to track down everything. That'll probably take all damn day..." He shrugged. "I don't think these guys had a target in mind, they just broke in and took stuff at random." A loud bang sounded off, and the two of them spun to see a worked had just finished tipping a shipping container upright. "Oh yeah, they also ransacked a few ships in dry-dock too." He grabbed his notebook back, flipping to one of the later pages. "Wellspring and Surt; pair of merchant vessels... And the Valley... Valis... Valliz Mer...” He stuttered for a moment, then shrugged. "Ugh... Some monster hunter ship from out of the country." Hanna did a double take. Ever since hearing that something had happened at the docks, she’d had a nagging thought in the back of her mind, which just then turned into a slight fear. "The Valles Marineris?" "The hell did you get that on the first try?" Florz chuckled at first, but then took another look at his notes. "Wait, isn't that the name of the ship you-." "Where there any casualties?" She asked earnestly. It wasn't an odd question to ask, given their line of work, but Hanna's tone was what caught Florz by surprise. "A dock worker." He said again, looking back at one of the Rune Knights for confirmation. "Poor SOB looked like he was mauled by a-. Hey where are you-!" Hanna didn't wait to hear the details, she broke into a jog to look for the crew. The whole port was flooded with personnel, from Rune Knights, to dock workers, to medical staff. It made spotting anyone next to imposable. "Noreen!" Hanna called, a pit forming in her stomach. "Noreen, are you here?" Hanna's words reached Noreen, who was still wrought by pain, stress, and anger. Because of this, she did not respond. Shogo immediately took action and chose to respond in Noreen's place. "Hanna!" He said. "Over here! We need your help!" She skid to a stop and spun around, hearing the call from behind her. Huddled next to one of the storage buildings was the crew of the Valles Marineris, as well as a medical tent that made Hanna break out in a sweat. She made it to them in under a second, brushing a guard out of the way to see Noreen resting at the center of it all with circle of her crew around her. She had a bandage wrapped around her thigh, and definitely looked more annoyed than hurt, but Hanna felt compelled to ask none the less. "Are you ok?" Noreen looked up at Hanna, giving her a stare that showed annoyance but was also blank. "Our ship got attacked!" She said raising her voice, as if to ignore her sustained injuries. "Yeah, we're looking into that." She assured, kneeling down to talk at eye level. "But are you ok?" Noreen looked at her wound, still holding her upper leg tight to reduce blood pressure ont he wound. "I will be. That monster that attacked me probably would have loved to do more than just scratch my leg." Shogo piped up for a moment. "Noreen. I know you aren't in the best mood, but we have done more diagnostics on the ship just to be safe. They stole a bunch of material for ammunition as well as the spare materials to repair the hull. Plus the hull was damaged pretty badly." Shogo began to swallow as if he was racing himself. His next words he did nto want to say, but he seemed to forced them out of his stomach. "We are actually worse off than we were after the storm" Noreen sighed for a moment. "Why am i not surprised?" She said. "Florz?!" Hanna called over her shoulder. "Florz, come here!" She stood up again as Florz made his way through the crowd, sounding a little more commanding when she spoke. "Have you found out anything else?" "You mean in the two minutes since we last talked?" Florz grinned at first, but Hanna's glair made him realise it was just best to answer her question. "Well... Not much besides a growing list of stuff that was taken." He flipped back a few pages in his notebook, finally shrugging and tucking it into his pocket. "Apparently the security system they use here is older than I am, so it'll probably be no help either." Hanna looked back at Noreen momentarily, looking somewhat discouraged for just a moment. "I want to help with this case." She said quickly. "I know you where the one assigned to it, but I'll really appreciate it." "I'll take any help I can get." Florz said with half a laugh. "We'll be sorting through the mess at the pier all day, and we’ve got jack from the port authority so far. So if you have any ideas then you won't catch me complaining." Hanna smiled appreciatively then looked back to Noreen and her crew. “Can you tell us anything about the attack?” She said hopefully. “Any detail could help.” Noreen sighed with her head down, hidden by her arms. She then raised her head, staring at the dark-blue waves which gently crashed on the shore. "He was about 12 feet tall, had a blue hide, and had bull-like horns on his head. He sort of looked like a gorilla too." She said. "This was the thief?" Florz asked, beginning to write in his book again. "If it was a mage, then it sounds like take over magic... Not that that'll narrow it down." "Can you remember anything else?" Hanna pleaded. "How many there where, what direction the went. Maybe you heard a name?" "I heard no name, but the monster was surrounded by a group of shady looking lackeys. He did say stuff to me like 'where ya goin'?' and 'aren't you out a little late.'" Noreen said. "I attempted to escape by swimming underwater, so i couldn't see where the monster and its lackeys went. Honestly, i didn't want to. Lars walked up to Hanna and said, "Well, On my way here, i saw some suspicious mages runnign to the north and away form the pier. I don't know if that helps with anything." "If we stopped every suspicious looking person in this city, we'd never get anything done." Florz chuckled to himself, before a sharp glair from Hanna stopped him cold. "Ok; suspicious guys to the north. Got it." "Don't be so dismissive, Mr.Grapin." A low voice echoed fro behind them, and the all turned just in time to see Zephyr step through a parted crowd. Hanna rose to give a quick solute, and was waved at ease in an instant. "Tell me, Mr.Grapin, Have you given up finding any usable surveillance footage?" "Yeah, the port security didn't show jack." Florz sighed, sensing he was about to be reprimanded. Zephyr didn't say anything though, so he decided to ask anyway. "Have... You found something else?" "Never underestimate the paranoia of a merchant." Zephyr produced a small Lacrima from his pocket, which shone with light at the flick of a switch. An image appeared above the crystal, appearing to come from the bow of a ship. A woman dashed past in the corner of the picture, followed closely by a large black mass moving too fast to spy any features. Zephyr rolled his finger through the picture, and it reversed the frame to just before the creature appeared. "Tell me miss..." He said, holding the Lacrima out for Noreen to see. "Is this the creature that pursued you?" Noreen looked at the moving image and then stared out to the ocean. She mumbled a soft "yes" before putting her head down into her arms once more. Shogo piped in. "I do remember seeing the monster and all, but after a few minutes, while I creed toward the shipyard where the action was at, I noticed that the group of lackeys the monster was with walked away, but with no towering monster in sight." "Could it have hid in one of the boxes they stole?" Hanna wondered out loud. "But I guess if it spoke, the more likely explanation is one of them could use Take Over Magic." She crossed her arms to think, never taking her eyes off the cut on Noreen's shin. "Hey Shogo, how many guys did you see?" "There were about... 12 people in total, not counting that monster of course." Shogo said. "It was really dark though, so there could have been more that i couldn't see. Are there any other like... lacrimae that saw the events of tonight from a different angle?" "That there are." Zepher said, sounding almost enthusiastic. "Tell me, Ms. Andrews. Are you familiar with the name, Bloody Smile?" "Uh..." Hanna froze, racking her brain for an answer. "No. It doesn't ring a bell." Zephyr paused a moment. His cold, unmoving eyes watching his pupil think for a while longer before finally beginning to explain. "It's the name of a dark guild that, we suspect, is located in the western part of the country. They mostly deal with smuggling things in and out of the country, but brazen attacks like this are not unheard of." Overhearing Zephyr's words, Lars and Shogo became very suspicious. They both gathered around Zephyr, their curiosity raised high enough that their bodies couldn't contain it. "Mr. Odinshire, forgive me for eavesdropping; in matters concerning the safety of my guild mates, I have to keep a listening ear to my surroundings. Can you tall me a little bit more about this... 'Bloody Smile' dark guild that you mentioned to your subordinate?" Lars asked; his right arm crossed over his chest and his left mechanical arm holding his chin up. "Seeing as how you where eavesdropping in the first place, I see no point in denying you further knowledge." He said, shifting his attention to Hanna. "Though I must remind you that they are civilians, so their involvement in this matter will be limited at best. Understood?" Hanna nodded quickly. "Yes, sir." The old councilmen's eyes scanned over them all, betraying for just a moment that he remained doubtful of his subordinate's word, but nodded all the same. "Alright then, There's a bit of a story to this, so listen well." Before the councilmen could speak, Shogo piped up with an irritated look on his face. He turned to Zephyr "Limited at best? We are the ones who were attacked! Isn't it right for-" Lars placed his hand over shogo's mouth and glared at him. "If you want to negotiate our level of involvement in this matter, we can do so another time. For now, Please show some respect for Mr. Odinshire and his subordinates by allowing them to handle this issue the way they see fit." Lars turned to the council men and stood with both his hands on his hips. "I'm all ears, gentlemen." Zephyr gazed at Shogo a moment, waiting for him to step back before he began. "They are labelled as a dark guild, but in truth there are maybe half a dozen mages in the group. The rest are simple bandits." He stopped a moment when Noreen grunted in pain as a doctor finished bandaging her leg, then picked up right where he left off. "Notable amongst the group is their leader, Django Fulbore; a cunning strategist and ringleader of a massive smuggling ring. His brother Oran, who you had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting tonight, is a man of inhuman ferocity and likewise is almost impossible to predict." Lars gulped. "So... this monster that Noreen encountered is actually a person..." He paused for a rmoment, putting his hand under his chin and staring at he ground. "That complicates things for us." Noreen looked up at Lars. "That thing did talk to me. I suppose that its ability to talk should have given it's identity away as a human using take-over." She said, her voice still weakened by the now-dwindling pain. "Well, that may be true, but in nature, there are monsters capable of speaking human languages." Lars turned around to face shogo. "Do you know how much money worth of materials were stolen?" Shogo put his hand on his face, lettign out heavy sighs which loudly passed through his mouth. "I kind of don't want to say it. I hate being the bearer of bad news." "Just let it out! You won't get in trouble or anything!" Noreen piped up in spite of the face that her voice showed signs of weariness. Shogo immediately responded with trepidation; his words barely passing through gritted teeth. "Sixty percent of our budget." "Now, now." Zephyr interrupted. "Before delving any farther into this matter, I must remind you that you are civilians. And that this matter is for the Council to investigate." His stoic tone failed to convey if he was being condescending, or genuinely concerned. His eyes turned to Hanna next, still ushering no real emotion in his words. "Need I remind you, Mrs. Andrews, that you've got a nasty habit of personalising your cases?" "N-no sir." Hanna stuttered. "Excellent." Zephyr clasped his hands behind his back, and spun on his heel to leave. "Then I leave it to you." without another word, the old councilmen disappeared into the crowd. Lars walked up to Hanna. "So..." He sighed. "Since your legal system limits our ability to contribute to the settling of this case, what else can we do to help this issue get resolved?" "Well..." She hummed, rubbing her shoulder while she thought. "I still need to take you're statements. And because this is a theft case now, I'll probably need you guys to come with me for a little while." "You can't be serious..." Florz groaned. "Old man just told you yo-." "I heard what he said." She interrupted, sounding annoyed herself. "But we're stretched thin as it is, and they're monster hunters. Sounds like they're perfect for hunting down this Oran guy." Florz sighed again, but just rolled his eyes and stepped back as Hanna turned back to Noreen. "Can you remember anything else?" "That is just about it." said Noreen. She rose to her feet with less grace than one would expect. Along the way, she stumbled, hissed in pain, and clung to nearby guards for support. She limped towards Shogo and cupped both of her hand on his shoulders in a clumsy attempt to stay standing. "Round up the crew and call it in." Shogo smiled at noreen. "You're shaking. Looks like you are finally coming together again." Noren smiled and slid her hand down shogo's chest before it drooped to her side, leaving onle her right arm to support her entire body weight. "You know me." '''Next Chapter - Heart to Smaller Heart' Category:Storyline Category:Chapter Category:Chapters